New Art at Nuart in Norway

For everyone making plans to attend one or more festivals around the world, Norway’s in the middle of hosting its much anticipated Nuart Street Art Festival in Stavanger. Nuart began way back in 2001 exhibiting urban art but in 2005 Nuart chose to focus exclusively on street art, essentially art developed in public spaces or in the streets. This year’s festival will run from September 7th to October 20th giving plenty of browsing time to both locals and visitors alike. Nuart features artists from all over the world displaying their less-than-traditional work all in one space known as Tou Scene.

One artist highlighted this year is the renowned street artist AIKO, who recently gave a presentation at Nuart where she spoke about her work and career. Her works often incorporate stencils and vivid colors and focus on Japanese themes and culture. You can see AIKO’s work at Shanghai’s Museum of Contemporary Art and in New York at the Brooklyn Museum and PS1/MOMA or maybe on the streets of Stavanger if you’re lucky enough to be on your way there.

Another artist showing is Ernst Zacharevic (A.K.A. Zachas) who uses stationary outdoor objects like an abandoned chair or a parked motorbike to interact with his work. Most notably his art on the streets of Brussels (in Belgium) and Georgetown (in Malaysia) depicts children interacting with the environment and employs playful, often whimsical themes.

Tou Scene, Nuart’s host this year, is a literal factory of art, historically significant as the former Tou brewery in Stavanger, a city known for its culinary scene and long, sandy beaches ideal for surfing. Now it’s no longer brewing beers but brewing excitement thanks to the creative talent bubbling over inside and its success has enabled it to host other art shows and exhibitions throughout the year.

Nuart itself is a celebration of untraditional methods in the expression of art, mainly street art.  Martyn Reed, founder and director has said: “Street art has its roots in situationism, graffiti, post-graffiti, comic culture, stencil and street art among other things. It is without a doubt the most exciting development in visual art, a movement that has caught the imagination of the general public, collectors, auction houses and curators the world over.”

www.nuartfestival.no/home

NUART 2013 PROMO from NUART on Vimeo.